(7 Dec 2011)
1. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walking in
2. Various of Clinton and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen meeting
3. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe arriving
4. EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton arriving
5. British Foreign Secretary William Hague walking in and stopping for statement
6. SOUNDBITE (English) William Hague, British Foreign Secretary:
"No, I don't think this will produce a NATO operation. We are deeply concerned about the situation in Syria and utterly deplore the behaviour of the Assad regime, the killing so far of more than four-thousand people according to the United Nations. We have adopted a series of sanctions in the European Union, and we are strengthening those all of the time, we strongly welcome the work of the Arab League and the initiatives that they have taken, but there is no international mandate or authority from the United Nations for intervention in Syria, as of course there was in the case of Libya, and we have found it impossible so far even to pass a much milder resolution on Syria in the United Nations Security Council because of the opposition of Russia and China. So, I don't see the same action being taken in Syria as happened in Libya."
7. Wide NATO sign and flags in front of NATO headquarters
8. Close up NATO flag
STORYLINE:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Brussels on Wednesday for two days of meetings at NATO.
Ahead of the main meeting, Clinton met with NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for talks.
Earlier, NATO's top official said on Wednesday that Russia's threat to develop countermeasures to NATO's ballistic missile defence system would be a waste of money because they would be aimed at an "artificial enemy."
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he hoped the contentious issue could be resolved before a summit between NATO and Russia in Chicago next May.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary excluded any NATO intervention in Syria, where a bloody crackdown on opposition protesters continues unabated.
"There is no international mandate or authority from the United Nations for intervention in Syria, as of course there was in the case of Libya," he said.
William Hague said that so far it has been impossible to pass on any resolutions on Syria through United Nations due to objections by Russia and China.
He was speaking ahead of a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers that will review progress in Afghanistan, plans for the missile defence system, and troubles in Kosovo.
The meeting follows a conference in Bonn, Germany, where some 100 nations and international organisations pledged to keep supporting Afghanistan after foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.
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